


Komorebi and the Shirin-Yoku

by kuroneko1815



Series: Narutails [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Konoha Twelve, BAMF Rookie Nine, Chakra impressions last, F/M, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Mokuton, Uzumaki Clan makes a comeback, Uzumaki Temple
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:00:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23591242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuroneko1815/pseuds/kuroneko1815
Summary: Komorebi: The interplay between light and leaves; when the sunlight shines through trees. Shirin-Yoku: Forest bathing or those who immerse themselves in the forest. In the Village Hidden in the Leaves, one would expect that the people there would understand such words. But those who appreciate it and practice it are few and far in between. Still, a group of children growing up among the trees begins to call themselves by those words in order to remind them of their Village's Ideals and of their loyalty to one another. This was the forest that they hunted and played in. This was the forest that they trained in. And this was the forest that nurtured them. Naruto was their Sun and they were the lucky few who were able to see it so early on.A little trip into the forest leads Naruto into a dilapidated temple baring her Clan's symbol and she gives in to the urge. The power within the temple awakens Minato and Kushina's chakra impressions and that changes everything. Because how could the child of the Yondaime Hokage and Konoha's Red Hot-Blooded Habanero be anything but a powerhouse? And they'll steer their daughter towards the people they trust to have her best interest at heart.
Relationships: Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Narutails [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698040
Comments: 21
Kudos: 189





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own the Naruto franchise nor do I make any money from this. This is just something I found on my laptop from a year or two ago.

Naruto was four when she woke up from her sleep because of the feelings of sadness and warmth emanating from somewhere directly above her. She knew immediately who it was, had even known the chakra presence that it belonged to. She opened her eyes to see the silver hair that couldn’t be hidden by the dog mask or the dark clothing he wore. She smiled up at him as she sat up and wrapped her arms around the man. “Inu-aniki! You’re back!” She said in an excited whisper.

“I’m back, little one.” He said softly as he sat down beside her. Eyes tracing the hand-shaped bruises on her arms that were already healing. He’d seen the locks placed _outside_ her door often enough to know that she was probably dragged here right after dinner was through. Kakashi was furious at the treatment his sensei’s daughter was being subjected too and had, at one point or another, considered just taking her away from all of this. But to do so would mean that he’d have to go missing-nin and being on the run was not a life he would subject an innocent child too.

He sat back and listened to her talk about what had happened in the last week he’d been away before he presented his gifts to her. He only left when he was certain she was deeply asleep. These late-night meetings were approved by the Hokage (though he would have done it even without his approval) as a way of giving Naruto _some_ type of support. The rest of Minato-sensei’s personal guards had practically demanded that one of them would always be on rotation for her ANBU guards because it was the only way they could be close to the child _their_ Hokage had left behind and cherished.

The child before him was more precious than gold, the last family he had left. _‘I won’t fail you, sensei. I swear.’_ He promised before returning to his post. Genma quietly updating him on everything that had happened while he was away. The remaining members of the Yondaime’s guards were all trading shifts between the Hokage and Naruto, refusing to abandon the task that Namikaze Minato had entrusted them when he’d first found out about the baby but also being bound by duty to guard the sitting Hokage.

* * *

Naruto was five when she was kicked out of the orphanage. She had wandered the streets for all of an hour before one of her guards had snatched her up and taken her directly to Hokage-Jiji. Naruto knew that she had never seen Jiji that angry in her life but he was gentle when he took hold of her and sat her on his lap. She smiled up at him and he patted her head.

“My, we are in a bit of a bind. What are we going to do with you, Naru-chan?” He asked softly before his attention was caught by Naruto’s confused frown.

“What’s with the squiggly things, Jiji?” She asked.

Alarm colored Sarutobi Hiruzen’s face. She was five and she hadn’t known how to read yet. Had the orphanage staff truly been that petty? And then he remembered that they had thrown out an innocent and sweet five-year-old and he decided that they were that petty and that they needed to be dealt with.

So he braced himself for the long day and began to teach the little girl who he saw as a surrogate granddaughter the art of reading. He smiled to himself when he realized that he had a willing student and a part of him thought about the days when his sons were still young enough to sit on his lap and he would teach them to read and write the same way he was now doing with the little girl. Maybe one day, he’d be able to do the same with Konohamaru.

So the lessons began and spiraled into a weekly commitment that they had bonded over. And that was also when Naruto began living alone. She grew close to the Sarutobis as time went by and they treated her as one of their own. A week before she turned six, Hiruzen had looked up and caught sight of Naruto trying to entice Konohamaru to begin crawling. He smiled and wished for the peace to continue and for the two children to remain innocent for as long as they could.

* * *

Naruto turned six and wandered into the forest with a little dog at her side. She wandered far enough away from the village that she found herself in front of an old temple. It wasn’t in a horrible condition but it was clear that no one had been there in years, a little time spent in it could make it good as new but that wasn’t what had caught her attention. It was her clan’s spiral painted at the entrance and the Uzumaki name written in kanji that had forced her closer.

Heart thudding in her chest she began to wonder whether or not this was where the Uzumakis had been buried, was she finally to see her family’s resting place? The answer was no. There was a memorial erected there for the Uzumaki clan that didn’t look as old as the rest of the temple and the inscription in it had marked it for those who fell during the destruction of Uzushio. A little to the left was a wall with a family tree and her eyes traced it hungrily until it finally landed on a name, well two.

_Uzumaki Senju Kushina – Namikaze Minato_

There was no date of death but she knew who it was. For a second she had a hard time breathing. She knew who these people were, these were her parents, they had to be, Kushina was the only one who was still alive when she was born and… and Namikaze Minato had blonde hair and blue eyes like she did. But more than that, Namikaze Minato was the Yondaime Hokage. She fell to her knees laughing and crying at the same time because she knew what this meant.

For her to have the Uzumaki name meant that they, or at least Jiji, should have known who her parents were and if he knew then that means that… that he lied to her. Betrayal warred with relief at the thought that she finally knew who she truly was. Her eyes caught sight of the scrolls that lined up neatly against a far wall, and at the far back was a row of masks that terrified and intrigued her.

She decided to go to the scrolls first. They were records, census, tallies, and even letters to various Uzumakis throughout the years. Many of it went over her head but she understood it. The last letter though…

_Kushina,_

_I have never been more grateful that you were taken away to Konoha to take on Lady Mito’s burden. Uzu no Kuni falls day by day and I fear we may have to enact the Seal of the Last Maelstrom. I have sent this to you, all of Uzushio's secrets and documents so that they may be preserved. The last of the refugee boats are set to leave in an hour and the invaders are none the wiser. I know that you and the rest of Konoha are on your way but there isn’t enough time. Once the last of the boats are outside of the area this letter will be sent to you and the seal will take effect._

_The hope of the Uzumakis return lies within you. The barrier will not allow anyone to enter unless an Uzumaki of the mainline lowers it…_

There was more to the letter but it didn’t matter right now. The whole history of her clan, of her people, was right there. But then the sun got lower and the world turned orange and she knew that it was time to return home, she didn’t leave empty-handed though, there was a map of Konoha from its founding that showed the Uzumaki lands had once been the buffer between the Uchihas and the Senjus. When she walked out of the temple another dog had taken the place of the one that had been with her in the forest but she didn’t mind, these were Inu-aniki’s dogs after all.

It wasn’t that long into the trip back into the forest that she ran into a lost little Uchiha who would become her best friend. Sasuke was six as well and a whole two and a half months older then she was. After seeing him back to his clan’s compound and into his frantic-for-an-Uchiha brother’s arms she had gone to confront her Jiji on her findings.

* * *

_The Kyuubi no Kitsune waited patiently for the little girl to go to sleep as the scenery around him changed. If he didn’t look to his left then he wouldn’t be reminded that he was trapped inside a human child and he could almost convince himself that he was once again free as the forests of his youth warped into reality around him. Of his three hosts, this child was his favorite, not only for her ability to give him a time to run and enjoy some sort of freedom but also because…_

_A flicker of his father’s form appeared and a scene temporarily shifted. The chakra that flared around him was pure and whole, a reincarnation and not a transmigration. Kyuubi smiled as he breathed out. ‘Asura, sister.’ Of his two human siblings, their sister was definitely the favorite among the bijuu siblings and it wasn’t something that even Indra had begrudged them of in the beginning because as a whole, back when there was still peace within the family, Asura was the sun that had brightened everyone’s day._

_And then the Kyuubi frowned as two other forms began to take shape. He had felt them awakening from the moment the girl had stepped foot inside the temple. The two forms solidified and there, right outside his cell door was the Yondaime Hokage and the Red Habanero looking around in bewilderment. He gave a fanged smile at them, ready to taunt the two._

“ _Kyuubi, I had hoped never to see your face again.” Minato said bitterly._

_Kyuubi growled. “Do you honestly believe that I want to see your faces, especially when the two of you are the reason I’m stuck here!” He roared at them._

“ _I don’t give two fucks about you right now! I’m more worried about the fact that something triggered the seal and woke us up. It obviously isn’t Naru because she isn’t here. We won’t see our daughter anymore! We won’t see her when she’s grown up! At this point, we’ll…” Kushina said as she let her chains loose._

_And then she paused as her eyes turned to where the Kyuubi was staring._

* * *

_Kushina’s breath was caught at the form of the little girl sitting by the river humming to herself. Her back was turned but even without seeing her face she knew who it was. Her husband’s blonde hair pulled into little pigtails and a blinding orange jumpsuit embroidered with the Uzumaki spiral. The girl was on the other side of the wide river. Hand twitching she turned to her husband and she could see that his attention was on her as well, awe in his eyes._

“ _Kyuubi, how were we awakened?” Minato demanded._

“ _The Uzumaki Mask Temple woke you.” The fox replied lazily before laying his head down onto his paws._

_Kushina couldn’t take it anymore and grabbed her husband in a hug, she grinned at him as his eyes widened, her chains extended and shot towards a tree wrapping around it before pulling them across the river and landing them in front of their daughter. Their daughter jumped up and backed away._

“ _Yondaime?” She asked in confusion. Kushina’s heart squeezed painfully at the thought that their daughter didn’t even know who they were._

“ _Hello, Naruto. It’s nice to finally see you again.” Minato said as he bent down to their daughter._

_Innocent blue eyes stared at him. “Are you really the Yondaime?”_

“ _I am.” He said softly before she jumped up at him and pulled him in a hug._

“ _Tou-chan!” She screamed into his ear._

_Kushina’s restraints broke. It wasn’t fair! Her daughter knew Minato but not her! She rushed at them and pulled them into a hug. “What about me, Naru?” She demanded._

_Blue eyes met lavender and she smiled. “Uzumaki?”_

_A nod and another hug between them. “Kaa-chan!”_

_Kushina held her daughter tighter committing her scent to her memory. “My baby! Let me look at you.”_

_She looked at her baby girl, so much bigger than when she’d last seen her. That was definitely her husband’s eyes and hair. “She looks like you.” Minato told her._

“ _I think she looks like you.” She replied._

“ _She might have my coloring but her face is all you.” He told her._

“ _Ano, Kaa-chan, tou-chan?” The sweet voice spoke up cautiously, they turned to her immediately. “Am I dead?”_

_The question froze her blood. “Why would you think that, darling?”_

“ _Because the two of you are dead.” She said bluntly._

“ _Sweetheart, you're just asleep right now.”_

“ _Then… this is a dream? You’re not really here?”_

“ _Baby girl, we’re here. We’ve always been here.” She said pointing to her daughter’s heart. “We put a part of ourselves in you so that we would always be with you. We wanted to see you at least once when you were older.”_

“ _Just once?” Naru asked, lips quivering and voice shaking._

“ _It was only meant to be just once but I think something happened and we’ll get to stay here. So long as we don’t use our chakra much.” Minato told her gently._

“ _Yatta! This is the best day ever, dattebayo!” She screamed out._

_Minato burst into laughter. “She’s definitely your daughter, Kushina.”_

“ _Of all the things she could inherit from me…” Kushina sighed but she had a smile on her face._

_A glance at the other side of the river showed that the Kyuubi’s cage couldn’t be seen, almost like a genjutsu was there. It explained why she didn’t notice them earlier, didn’t hear them yelling at the Kyuubi. She turned back to her daughter, a smile on her face. “Tell me everything about yourself!”_

“ _I’m Naruto Uzumaki and I’m gonna be the Hokage one day, Dattebayo! And people are gonna acknowledge me!” She said enthusiastically. Kushina shared a smile with her husband at that, their dream seemed to live on in their little girl. “I made my first friend today! His name is Sasuke and he’s an Uchiha, he’s got a really cool big brother named Itachi just like I have Inu-Aniki!”_

_Inu-aniki? Kakashi… and Itachi Uchiha… Mikoto’s oldest boy, right? That would make Sasuke her younger son. Kushina’s smile was almost painfully wide at the thought of her best friend's children being raised with her daughter. And then she frowned as she realized that her daughter had only made friends with Sasuke today, not to mention the fact that she was still talking and the more she heard about the behavior of the adults around her, the more she wanted to drag herself from the afterlife and remind them exactly why she was feared as the Red Hot Tempered Habanero. Her husband’s eyes had gone painfully dark as well at the thought of the abuse and neglect her daughter suffered from._

“ _So, who are you living with now?” Minato cut her off._

“ _I live by myself. I have this really neat apartment that Hokage Jiji gave me.”_

_What? Her six-year-old daughter was living by herself? A terrifying smile stole onto her face. “Naru-chan…” She singsonged. “Have you ever heard of fuinjutsu?”_

_The shake of her daughter’s head made her smile more. “Let me tell you about our family’s favored art.”_

_Hours later when her daughter was already awake, she and her husband sat beside the Kyuubi’s cage, her mindscape having shifted back to a sewer. She and her husband began listing everything they were going to teach their daughter. Cooking, math, chakra control, survival basics, and fuinjutsu. It seemed a bit pointless to teach their daughter taijutsu right now and would definitely make it way more suspicious if she suddenly knew the perfect forms… however, that didn’t mean they couldn’t start her on physical conditioning exercises for when she was awake. And their safe house on the Uzumaki lands was definitely somewhere she needed to go. It would be better than whatever crap apartment she’d been given._

* * *

Naru walked to the Uchiha compound a week later ready to see Sasuke with Paakun beside her. The little ninken had a small bone in his mouth from Teuchi-san as he escorted her to Sasuke’s house. Mikoto-baa-chan was already standing right outside of the house and waved her over with a smile when she saw her. After she had confronted the Hokage about her parents' identity, a lot had changed. Mikoto-baa-chan was able to tell her more about her mother and father and had even told her to come over every night for dinner.

She didn’t spend have dinner with them every night since she still had the Sarutobis as her first family. And when she had ‘accidentally’ stumbled onto her father’s safe house close to the temple, Jiji had allowed her to move there but had also made her keep her apartment, **just in case**. Naru rushed towards the dark-haired woman.

“Mikoto-san!” She said happily as the woman finished sweeping the front steps.

“Hello, Naru-chan. Sasuke’s just in the back practicing with Itachi and Shisui.” The woman tells her kindly.

Naruto rushes in, barely remembering to remove her shoes and put on her slippers. The moment she reaches the backyard, Sasuke rushes at her and she hears Shisui snickering in the background somewhere but she decides to let it go in favor of hugging her friend. She suddenly feels so safe with his arms around her.

“Sasuke!” She said happily before turning to the two other Uchihas. “Itachi-san, Shisui-san!” She said as she bowed to them.

“Maa, maa, no need for such formalities, Naru-chan.” Shisui said waving his hand at her.

“He’s right. Itachi is fine, or you can call me nii-chan as well.” He said as he threw a glance at Sasuke.

“Nii-chan, Shisui-nii, will you play ninja with us?” Sasuke asked as he tugged at Naru’s hand. Naru turned to him with a smile.

“Hai. But you didn’t ask your friend if that was what she wanted to play.” Itachi said gently.

Sasuke turned to her again. “Naru, wanna play ninja?”

“Hai!”

Naru turned to the two older boys with expectant looks. The two just sighed but agreed to play.

* * *

Naru was seven when she woke up to the suffocating feeling of anger and pain, red painting her dream. _‘Sasuke’_ She thought, unable to breathe before she quickly threw off her bedsheets and opened the window to her bedroom and grabbed the mirror she kept by the window, catching the light of the moon, she twitched it three times as a signal for her ANBU guards before she took off, still in her toad pajamas and into the Uchiha district which was eerily silent and dark. And then she noticed her feet were wet but she didn’t care about it as she ran to Sasuke’s house.

Sasuke was right outside the entrance collapsed on the floor, she pushed herself further and got to him before the ANBU guards could appear. Her eyes glancing up at the red that colored the ground in front of him and under his parents. One of the ANBU tries to pull her away from Sasuke but she screams and snarls and kicks at them, she’s sure she’s broken at least three of the ANBU’s bones but she doesn’t care. Eventually, Inu-Aniki arrives with the Hokage and they put her to sleep.

Kaa-chan and Tou-chan are there and they hold her for dear life. That was also the day she meets the Kyuubi no Kitsune. She doesn’t cower in fear, barely even cares that he’s the reason she’s so hated, not when all she can see is red and Sasuke on the ground. _‘Ohgodohgodohgod!WhereisItachi-nii?’_ Keeps going around and around inside her mind as she whimpers.

She wakes up a few hours later to a beautiful Saturday afternoon that looks so wrong and Sasuke is right beside her in another bed. She hears the whispers from outside the door. _“They’re saying Itachi Uchiha did it, he even destroyed all of the Uchihas eyes.”_

“ _What? Why would the heir do that?”_

“ _He probably cracked, child prodigies like that usually give in to the pressure.”_

She burrows into her pillow and cries just trying to deny everything, wanting to defend Itachi but her voice fails her and she’s just so tired. She falls asleep again and wakes up on a Sunday morning. She’s discharged an hour later doing her best to ignore the sneers of disgust from most of the medical staff. She’s taken to the Hokage’s tower and questioned for an hour or two before she’s let go. She gets home and tries to distract herself, heading to the temple first and lighting candles before heading to her garden and tending to the plants but its no good.

She heads home and digs through the scrolls and books that her parents had kept and finds a few on iryo-ninjutsu. She throws herself at it with a fury, reading everything she can about it even though it flies over her head but she doesn’t stop. In the afternoon she makes bentos for Sasuke and herself, she makes his favorites and heads out to the hospital but he doesn’t wake up that day so she sits in the silence of his room sowing and working on her fuinjutsu theories.

Her Monday is quiet and the teacher ignores her or scolds her for her poor taijutsu skills. She sits down in her usual seat and her friends are equally solemn. Iruka-sensei tries to cheer her up but she shakes him off. The hospital throws her out after two hours and she stalks off to the training grounds in tears. She watches the man in the Green tights going through his taijutsu stances and she hides behind the tree trying to imitate him but fails.

“Stupid! Weak! So weak! How will you protect the people you love when you’re this weak?” She hisses at herself as she throws herself to the ground wiping furiously at the tears falling down her face. One of the ninkens shows up, the golden retriever licks at her face and burrows into her side.

* * *

Gai senses the child before he hears her, he ignores her at first but the sound of her sobs reaches his ears and he can’t leave her alone, it would be most un-youthful after all. He wasn’t expecting the Yondaime’s daughter to be hiding behind the tree and crying her eyes out. _‘But then again, she was supposedly close to the Uchiha head and his family, the bond was so close that she felt the younger son’s distress and rushed there. At least, that’s the rumor going around.’_ Gai thought.

“Yosh!” He said as he approached the girl, giving her enough time to compose herself. “Why are you there little one?” He glances at his eternal rival’s ninken beside her only briefly but it’s long enough for them to lock eyes.

“I…I was watching you practice. I thought that… that if I could watch you… I could learn and…” The little girl stammers before trailing off.

“Watching is one thing, being taught is another! Come, go on to the training grounds and show me your stances maybe I can help you.” He offers gently. He knows to temper his enthusiasm towards a scared little girl like her.

He frowns when she begins in the opening stance and stops her halfway. “Yosh! I can see why you’re having a hard time with taijutsu. Your form is flawed, heavily. You find yourself off balance a lot, ne?”

Naru looks confused. “But this is the way the teachers taught me. They even corrected my stances.”

Gai’s blood freezes and his smile becomes stiff as he pushes his anger down. _‘How dare they? How dare they sabotage a student so? That isn’t just un-youthful, that’s practically treason! At this rate, she won’t just get herself killed but her teammates too!’_ He thinks and wonders not for the first time why the Hokage hasn’t fired them yet. Then again… they were still recovering from the Kyuubi attack and the third war, there were probably no other teachers available or trained yet.

“I’ve decided that from this day on I will be your most youthful teacher in taijutsu!” Gai tells her before he begins correcting her form. Hours later he meets up with his Eternal Rival who lays a plate down of his favorite dishes.

“Thank you.” That’s all the other man says.

* * *

Sasuke is discharged from the hospital and he’s different, harsher, colder to everyone but Naruto, even still, he tries to distance himself from them but she doesn’t allow him too. She forces him to keep talking to their friends. Reads his moods and sends whichever friend would be best suited to keeping him company during his brooding when she’s too busy. Kiba for the days when he needs to spar and let loose, Choji for the days when he needs someone to just be there without judgment, Hinata when the strains of the expectations are too much for him, Shino when he wants the silence but companionship as well, and Shikamaru for the days when he really needed to focus on something so he plays shogi with him and always loses _spectacularly_ , not that he minds losing the game.

He also turns down the taijutsu training from Gai, preferring his family’s style but that doesn’t mean he stops training with Naruto. He also watches the way she’s treated by the people around her, particularly the teachers and he sneers. Umino Iruka had been an exception to the teachers that they’ve had, the others are people who have lost his respect. Iruka was the only one who treated her like a person and not the demon that was sealed inside her, he was more patient with her, more strict… in short, he was the parent she lacked and the firm hand of discipline that the Hokage couldn’t be and for that… for that, Sasuke is grateful.

* * *

Naru’s exceptional cooking skills spawned from three things: 1. Survival. She had been living on her own since she was old enough not to be considered a toddler and thus needed to learn how to feed herself. 2. Her mother’s chakra ghost, Kushina Uzumaki was just as much of an artist in the kitchen as she was in seals and her father was no slouch either. And 3. Mikoto Uchiha was determined to prepare her goddaughter (and the girl she secretly hoped would be her daughter-in-law) for the future and such things included homemaking and the full course of Kunoichi classes.

Her skills in the kitchen lead her to inadvertently bribing her next teacher for lessons or rather, Anko bribes Naruto with lessons in exchange for her homemade dango…

* * *

_Gai walked into the Jounin lounge with an entire basketful of Dango and other sweets curtesy of his most youthful student. He thought to share it with his fellow Jounins, especially with his Eternal Rival after having caught the hint that there was something there for her Inu-Aniki. Kakashi as per usual was ignoring him in favor of his orange book but he knew that the Hatake’s senses had already told him that he’d brought the sweets._

“ _Hello! My youthful comrades! I bring treats to share with you all!” He said happily as he began to lay the sweets down onto the table. There was a hungry and predatory look on their faces._

“ _I SMELL DANGO!” Was heard coming down the hall before Mitarashi Anko crashed into the room. The tokebetsu Jounin was already pouncing on the plate. Gai had the foresight to set a few aside for himself and a few others as Anko immediately jumped onto a bookshelf and took a bite._

_Gai watched her as she paused after the first bite. Eyes wide the woman swallowed and turned to the others. “Who brought these?” She asked calmly._

_Everyone turned to Gai nervously. “Where did you get these?” Calm and even. “THESE ARE THE BEST DANGO I’VE EVER HAD!!!” She screamed._

“ _My youthful student gave it to me as a gift.”_

_Kurenai frowned. “I didn’t know you had a student.”_

“ _Unofficially. I’ve had the most youthful pleasure of teaching Uzumaki Naruto in the wonders of Taijutsu and in return she has made these delights as a thank you.”_

_The silence was met in the room as Ebisu wrinkled his nose in disgust. Everyone in the room knew who Naruto was, and what was sealed inside the child. There were a few who openly disliked and even hated her and it was obvious from the way they immediately backed away from the food as though it were poisoned. Most of the others were indifferent while a few had been part of her ANBU team and as such were fond of the girl._

“ _So, you get free treats for beating the girl into the ground?” Anko asked with sadistic glee._

“ _That wasn’t what I said.” Gai told her. “I teach her.”_

“ _Okay, so if I teach her some basic things then she would make me some more Dango, right?” Anko said happily and before anyone could say anything, she was already skipping out of the room._

* * *

Anko was a harsh taskmaster who only wanted the best results. She wasn’t too bothered by Naruto’s academy scores and understood the blatant sabotage that most of the teachers were doing against her new student so settled for training her harder to ensure that none of their sabotage would work. With her came the Genjutsu Mistress Kurenai who had helped her identify genjutsus and taught her how to break them.

A few others stepped in from time to time to teach her some things, particularly when they wanted some treats from her. Asuma was the one who spent the most time with her though, given the fact that she was practically his late brother’s adopted daughter. Asuma taught her the wind style techniques since that was one of the elements she had an affinity to.

Sasuke and the rest of her friends sometimes attend these training sessions and it becomes something akin to impromptu team simulations. The children are interchangeable in teams but they are lacking two members. The Ino-Shika-Cho formation was already guaranteed to be followed in this generation as well so they knew that Ino Yamanaka was one member, the other would be for whoever took the role of Top Kunoichi. The Jounins have already begun betting on the other two team formations and they have begun eyeing their potential teams with interest.

Naruto has the potential to be a great ninja, a strong frontline fighter, a seal master, her abilities in infiltrations, trapping, sabotage, and disguises were just as renowned as her speed something that continues to stupefy the ANBU that chase after her after each of her pranks. Her sexy jutsus make her perfect for seduction and information gathering in the future, while her study into the sealing arts had led to a study into iryo-ninjutsu applications. And finally, she is an Uzumaki and all Uzumakis were natural sensors. And this… this intrigues everyone because there were some among the clan that was said to be capable of sensing someone a hundred miles away, an ability that would be useful when fully developed.

Naruto for her part dives further and further into the scrolls her parents had left behind. The Senju fighting style, the Uzumaki fighting style, and even her own father’s fighting style have all become blended with Gai’s taijutsu to create something unique. Naruto has her father’s speed, her mother’s chakra reserves, and durability, and the Senju’s famed chakra control taught to her by her parents and by the very begrudging Ebisu. As for the Kyuubi… well… they had met and they had spoken on occasion but his constant companions were Kushina and Minato.

* * *

_Kurama stared at the little girl that was Asura’s reincarnation with an impassive face. He still remembered Hashirama, the moronic idiot who betrayed his own siblings and imprisoned them. In that way, the Shodaime was so different from Asura that he had inspired the hatred of the bijuu, Naruto, on the other hand, was Asura’s full incarnation who would have the possibility of awakening her old memories and perhaps even her old abilities._

_The girl child is fearless as she approaches his cage, a friendly smile on her face. “Hi, Kyuubi-san! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and we’re gonna be friends! Dattebayo!” She exclaimed._

_Kurama kept his face blank resisting the urge to twitch his ears in frustration at the verbal tic. Asura was the first Senju and Uzumaki, the verbal tic had come from her and had only been inherited by the mainline of the Uzumaki clan. Hearing it had brought back so many memories of Asura and her moments of empty-headedness._

“ _What’s your name, Kyuubi-san?”_

_Another stare at the smiling girl before he sighed. “Kurama. I am known as Kurama, kit.”_

“ _Nice to meet ya, Kurama!”_

_Off to the side, the two chakra impressions are doing a good job of imitating fishes as they gape at their daughter talking to him in such a friendly tone without him threatening the girl even once. Kurama brought his head down onto his arms and let the girl’s incessant chatter wash over him and for a few moments it almost seemed like he was back in the days immediately after his father had first created them._

* * *

_Minato waited patiently for his daughter to appear as Kushina flittered about the flower fields created, Kyuubi was already busy with his daily run across the river inside his enlarged cage. His little girl had been growing so much and she was everything he and Kushina had ever imagined, in fact, she was more than that. ‘The Orange Hokage’, as his daughter liked to call herself, was a ray of positivity and hope that had the ability to inspire everyone she met._

“ _Tou-chan! Kaa-chan!” Naruto’s voice echoed through the forest. He and Kushina immediately turned to the source of the voice._

_Naruto stood there in her toad printed pajamas while clutching a… toad? “Lookie, lookie! Someone left this for me at the apartment!” She said as she rushed towards them holding out the plush._

_His mouth twitched into a smile, it seemed Jiraiya sensei was back in Konoha for a little while. He suspected that a large part of Naru’s allowance came from both Jiraiya and Kakashi, he’d been the Hokage after all and he knew how little the orphan’s fund actually was during post-war years. It was meant to give the children some pocket money to buy their essentials while they lived in the orphanage, it was never meant to subsidize a child living on her own._

“ _My, it seems your godfather is in town.” Kushina says, a mischievous smile on her face. Minato knows that Kushina has taken exception to the fact that neither Jiraiya nor Tsunade stayed to watch over their daughter._

“ _Godfather?” Naruto asked head tilted adorably to the side as she tried out the foreign word._

“ _My sensei, Jiraiya of the Sannin,” Minato explained gently. “We got your name from his book, that makes you his godchild and him, your godfather. He is family.”_

_There is triumph in Kushina’s eyes as Naruto leans in eagerly, ready for stories of times lost._

* * *

Jiraiya giggled as he peaked into the women’s bath. And then he’d felt a bright presence standing right behind him. He tried to ignore it, he really did, but eventually gave in and turned around. He didn’t see anyone so he looked down and was met with Minato’s bright blonde hair and blue eyes set into Kushina’s face. He swallowed as he laid his eyes on his goddaughter for the first time since she was a baby. She was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and held the stuffed toad he’d sent her the day before.

They stared at one another for quite some time before she opened her mouth. “Pervert.”

Jiraiya nearly fell to the floor face first at that before he drew himself up high to give the ultimate introduction. “How dare you, brat! I am Jiraiya the Galant, the Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, one of the Denetsu no Sannin, the author of the greatest book series: Icha-Icha!” He said proudly.

“What’s Icha-Icha about?” Curious and _innocent_ blue eyes turn to him as she asks and Jiraiya can practically feel his blood freeze. _‘Shit! Kushina is going to tear her way back from the Pure Lands if I corrupt her daughter and that’s assuming I wouldn’t already be there because of Tsunade-hime!’_

“It’s a grown-up book…” He tells her, scrambling for something to say.

The little girl nods her head in all seriousness. “I wanna say thank you for gama-chan!” She said happily as she lifted the stuffed toad. The bright smile that he gives her and the roundness of her cheeks create the image of adorableness that even Jiraiya wouldn’t be able to deny. He just barely stops himself from swooning before he realizes exactly what she has said because how on earth did the girl know that he had given it to her.

Immediately reaching for the girl, he took hold of her and immediately began to race atop the roofs and to the Hokage’s tower. Bursting through the doors, Jiraiya set the little girl down onto the floor gentler than he ever had in his life. The Sandaime doesn’t even seem surprised by his abrupt entrance. “Welcome back, Jiraiya. I was expecting you an hour ago.”

Jiraiya just laughs and shrugs it off. “I was doing some… research.”

Sarutobi Hiruzen just nods at him with an indulgent smile. Eyes turning towards the little girl beside him. The little girl beams back at the Hokage.

“Sensei, she… she…” Jiraiya stammers because it’s clear someone has broken the law and had told the girl something.

“No one broke the law, she stumbled upon the Uzumaki Mask Temple three years ago, you know that Kushina stored all documents for her clan there, including her marriage certificates. She’s been living in her parent’s old home for about three years now. She figured everything out herself.” Hiruzen explained.

“So… she knows that I’m her godfather.” Jiraiya whispered. He stepped towards the little girl again. “Hello, Naruto. I’m your godfather, Jiraiya.” He introduced himself softly.

“Hello, Pervy Sage! I’m Uzumaki Naruto!” She says brightly. And oh, doesn’t that smile just remind him of Kushina.

“Jiraiya, why don’t you take the day off and spend it with Naruto. Your report can wait.” His sensei says, dismissing them both.

Jiraiya walks out with the little girl on his shoulders and immediately takes note of the stares and whispers. He lets out a bit of Killer Intent as he glares at them. “My, my little goddaughter is the most adorable child in the world!” He says loudly and quite pointedly and immediately people turn away. As one of the most powerful shinobi to have come from Konoha, one who was considered as a Hokage Candidate, people know better than to challenge him or displease him.

* * *

Jiraiya spends the day with the little girl, his precious student’s beloved daughter and only child and eventually ends up back at the Namikaze residence having an early dinner with her friends and her two Senseis, Might Guy and Mitarashi Anko. All the while, he is aware of Kakashi’s presence trailing after them the whole day. He decides to ignore it in favor of watching the interactions between Naruto and her friends, takes note of the fact that she and the Uchiha sit far too close and seemingly gravitate towards one another and he notes the composition of her circle of friends, clan heirs the whole lot of them, though the Yamanaka is noticeably absent.

“We’re all outcasts one way or another! Shika, Kiba, and I are all at the very bottom and it’s a heads up on which one of us will become the dead last. Chouji and Hinata-chan are at the middle tier of the class but since Chouji and Shika are best friends like Hina-chan and me, the two of them are outcasts by association. And Sasuke and Shino are the top two guys but they’re also not big fans of socializing so they stick with us. Dattebayo!” She explains.

He eyes the children again and he can already see the composition of the group. The Ino-Shika-Cho formation would be preserved even if the Yamanaka wasn’t as close to them. The Inuzuka, Aburame, and Hyuuga would make the most sense as a team, they would be a good tracking team with two possible frontline fighters. That would leave Naru and Sasuke with an unknown third element. Naru as the Kyuubi’s jinchuriki would need to be with either a mokuton user, a seal master, or a Sharingan user. All three would be doable if they could get Yamato out of ANBU, and as Sasuke was an Uchiha who was almost guaranteed to awaken his Sharingan he would need to be on a team with Kakashi who was the only other Sharingan user left in Konoha and who was proficient enough in seals then should Naru ever lose control of Kyuubi, at least she would have someone capable of stopping her.

“We decided to call our group as a whole the Komorebi and the members as the Shirin-yoku. ‘ttebayo!” She tells him excitedly.

‘ _Komorebi,’_ Jiraiya thinks. _‘The sunlight filtering through the trees. The pockets of light that persist in a dark forest. Apt, in a way that they are the light of Konoha’s future. And Shirin-yoku? People who immerse themselves in the forest.’_ And then his eyes narrow as he sees the Uchiha brat’s hands disappearing down the table with Naru’s in a position he knows means that they are holding hands. He fights to keep from grimacing because she was nine and entirely too young to be involved with boys. He could hear Mitarashi snorting from his side.

He takes another bite of the dinner that Naru prepared for them, one that was definitely Kushina’s recipes by the taste of it as his eyes wander around the dining area once more, practically nothing has changed since his last visit nine years ago save for the pictures. The house seemed untouched by time and he half expects Minato and Kushina to come in at any moment.

“So you’ve noticed, huh.” Anko says as she glances at the two children discreetly holding hands. “Those two, they’ve been like that since I met them a year ago. I would be more surprised if they don’t end up together in the future.”

Jiraiya doesn’t answer but continues to watch the two. Dinner ends and the adults escort the children home, all except for the Uchiha brat that is. He watches as the two fall into a domestic dance, a well-practiced and almost instinctual routine where the brat begins to clean up the table and wash the dishes while Naru packs up the leftovers into containers and prepares **six** Bentos.

“Why are you preparing for six?” He asks curiously.

Naru looks at him with a soft smile. “Two for me and Sasuke for class tomorrow, two for my guards for when they’re off shift, one for you and Jiji.”

And… oh… it’s been so long since he’s had someone pack him a bento, not since Minato and Kushina were still alive. It was those small moments of thoughtfulness that had been so characteristic of Kushina and so completely surprising for those who barely knew the loud, brash, and often violent woman. Things like that were done without thought as if it were something natural, and to an Uzumaki who had lived her first few years of life in a village that was composed only of her relatives, that was probably how things were.

“Are you staying the night, Pervy-sage?” The nickname makes his eyes twitch but he nods anyway.

It isn’t until he spots the brat heading for the master bedroom, the room where Naruto had said she was sleeping, that his control broke. “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING BRAT?” Jiraiya all but hollers at them.

“I’m heading to bed.” The boy deadpans and it’s so typically Uchiha that he has to remind himself not to lunge for the boy.

“And just why are you going into Naru’s room?”

Naru comes out in toad printed pajamas and hair still damp from her shower. “We stay together in case we have nightmares about… about that night. Sasuke has a key to the house so that he can get in whenever being at his house becomes too much.” She explains as she drags the boy into the room. “Goodnight.” She says with a saccharine smile before she closes the door in his face.

‘ _Oh kami, they’re practically married! Forget Kushina, Minato was definitely going to claw his way out from the Shinigami’s stomach to kill him for not keeping the brat away from his little princess.’_ He thought with despair as he began plotting ways to kill… er, maim… er, keep the brat away from his precious goddaughter.

Once he was in his room, he opened the window and signaled for Kakashi to come in, despite the fact that it would break protocol. Kakashi comes in moments later as Jiraiya casts his senses far and wide, more alert now that there is a temporary gap in Naru’s guard. Kakashi’s face is stoic but there are hints in his eyes, of loneliness, of longing, of regret.

“Nice to see you’re still alive, Kakashi.”

“Jiraiya-sama.” Sakumo’s boy greets back.

He frowns at that and eyes the silver-haired prodigy before beginning his interrogation on his goddaughter’s habits and life. When he gets to her relationship with Sasuke Uchiha, Kakashi just gives him an eye smile. There is fondness in his eyes.

“It’s all innocent for now, Jiraiya-sama. I don’t doubt that in a few years, they’ll be something more, but for now… they’re just two orphaned children who have nothing but each other to rely on and have thrived because of that.” Kakashi returns to his post immediately after.

* * *

“I want to know everything about the Uchiha Brat!” Jiraiya practically demands when he storms into his sensei’s room.

“Good day to you too, Jiraiya.” The Hokage says without looking up.

Jiraiya pouts. “That damn brat is pawing all over my sweet innocent little goddaughter!”

Hiruzen looks up at him with amusement in his eyes. “I highly doubt they’re old enough for whatever your perverted mind has come up with.”

“Sensei! I know more than anyone about how perverted boys could be!”

“Hai, hai. I remember, Jiraiya-chan.”

“Don’t treat me like a little boy, Sensei!”

Then Hiruzen’s face takes on a more serious look. “She keeps him grounded, well, they both do. I can’t even begin to imagine what state the boy would be if he didn’t have her by his side. Nor do I even want to imagine what she would be like to have grown up without a friend.”

There was a grimace on the lined and weathered face of Hiruzen Sarutobi. “Their influence on each other has kept them well away from unwanted elements.”

Unwanted elements, Jiraiya knew, meant Danzo and his supposedly disbanded Root. Jiraiya deflated. What they really needed was someone who was strong enough and who had blood ties to either of the children to take custody of them but the only option they had was Tsunade and they knew what the woman thought about Konoha.

“Enough about this, give me your report.”

* * *

Hours later, Jiraiya walked away, satisfied with the lunch that his beloved goddaughter had thoughtfully given them. He brought his focus onto Naruto’s sunshine bright chakra before taking off. Landing in training ground 12, he immediately watches a spar between Naru and the Brat with Konoha’s Green Beast watching them. Jiraiya can see the blended forms of the Senju, Uzumaki, and Minato’s own combined with the Academy standard and the traces of Might Gai’s own form and then her stances shift again to match the Uchiha’s style.

Jiraiya watches the fight with the two of them equally matched. Frontline fighters, he knows that’s what type of team they would be. The two of them already had the bond and potential to be greater than even his own genin team. When the fight finally ends, Naru turns from where she was sitting on the ground, panting, to smile at him.

“Ero-sennin!” She says brightly and Jiraiya twitches at the name again, all warm feelings suddenly evaporating.

Jiraiya sighs. “How do you feel about learning fuinjutsu?”

“It would be nice to have someone actually teaching me.” She says with a shrug. Someone actually teaching her? That meant she was already learning it, maybe she was doing a self-study like Tsunade had done with her iryo-ninjutsu.

Eyes lighting up, Jiraiya grabbed Naru and shunshined away with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked it! Let me know! And please keep safe and healthy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pre-Genins shed the 'Pre' part of their title and Hinata makes a plan. Minato freaks out over Naruto's signature Jutsu. Some plans are made and Naruto learns a new trick.

There was nothing more annoying than fangirls. That had been the unanimous decision of the group as a whole as they ignored the screeching horde of hormonal prepubescent sociopaths and had Sasuke not been their friend, they would have thrown him to the banshees. But alas, as his friends, they were forced to ignore the repeated demands of the fangirls that they be allowed a seat beside their beloved Sasuke-kun.

The group had endured both verbal and physical threats from the girls and alone, they maybe would have given up but they were united in their solidarity of not giving a fuck. It was even more pleasant to realize that the girls got into far more trouble than they did for their rather aggressive acts. That Iruka-sensei was the best teacher was also something that they all agreed upon.

Of course, it was also the dumbest thing to attack them given the fact that they were all clan heirs (though most were not aware of Naruto’s status) and the only fangirl that was an heiress was Ino Yamanaka who knew better than to attack the Komorebi because she, at least, understood the politics and implications of her status and those of their peers. So, more often than not, the fangirls are treated to a thorough scolding and punishments.

Sasuke couldn’t help but sigh as he watched them try to bully Shikamaru and Choji into giving up their seats but both boys ignored them, one in favor of napping and another in favor of eating his favorite chips. Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba sit in the row right in front of them while Shino sits in front of Kiba by the aisle. He, unfortunately, has always been relegated to sitting beside either Ino or Sakura who fight over the seat closest to the window because it was supposedly in Sasuke’s line of sight.

He snorts at that because the only thing he’s inclined to stare at, if not the teacher and his lectures, was Naruto who sits directly in front of him and he is forever entranced by the sight of how the sun hits her hair and makes it shine like gold. The years since the massacre have come and gone in a surprisingly peaceful and happy manner. Naruto’s influence on his and their friends’ lives have made each of them grow in different ways and before he can even think about it they’re already twelve and two weeks away from taking their final exams.

Hinata sits taking notes diligently while Naruto makes little seals beside her. The Hyuuga heiress has grown the most and has come into her own. Shy and gentle as she was, there was no doubt about how strong she was during the days when they were made to spar. She was tied for the top spot with Sakura and that was more for pulling her punches and her hesitation. He has no doubt that should she be forced into it, the dark-haired girl would be a devastating fighter. And there’s also the weight and resistance seals that all of them wear gifted to them by Jiraiya for their training. No, all of his friends were going to be just fine.

Sasuke frowns as he watches Mizuki return their test results, the man was a closet bigot and it showed in the way he looked at Naruto when he thought no one was watching. The girl in question barely even glanced at her results as she stuffed it inside her bag with a smile to their teacher. It was no doubt another barely passing mark and not for the first time has Sasuke wondered why no one was doing anything about the blatant sabotage done to someone who was so clearly far above the rest of their classmates but he held his tongue. The tired smile on Naruto’s face as she asked him to ‘drop it’ flashed into his mind.

_Naruto’s shoulders were hunched slightly as he spoke to her. “Sasuke, please, just drop it. Okay?”_

_“But why? You and I know he’s been sabotaging your tests. Hinata confirmed that there was a genjutsu on your paper and I know you broke it already so why are you playing into this?” He demanded as he held the results of the latest test in his hands._

_She shook her head, shoulders drooped. “Because I don’t want to keep trying to prove myself to him through papers. I don’t want to be accused of cheating. I’ll make him and everyone else eat their words when I become a shinobi besides… I don’t want to come under suspicion… he doesn’t feel right to me.” She says. He sighed as he nodded at her but he was secretly displeased by what was happening to her and he knew the rest of their friends felt the same way. They knew her secrets, knew about the Kyuubi and her duty as its jailer and they also knew that it was a burden passed along her family._

“Naru.” He said softly as they were packing up for the day. “Let’s have ramen tonight, my treat.” Her smile immediately brightened and Sasuke felt so happy to be the one to be on the receiving end of it, let alone to be the one who had put it there.

They walked out of the academy with the rest of their friends, walking shoulder to shoulder and he knew it wouldn’t take more than a little twitch of his hand so that they would be holding hands but he held himself back, the fangirls were still within eyesight and he didn’t want to deal with them and their overreactions let alone the sight of them attacking Naruto. He walked with the Komorebi completely content as he listened to Naruto and Hinata talk about their Kunoichi classes.

“And I was thinking we can train and do our homework before we go out for ramen, what do you think, Sasuke?” Naruto asked and he broke out of his daze and focused on what Naruto was saying.

“Hn.”

Naruto hissed. “That is not a proper response.”

“Hn.”

“Sasuke!” She said before he took off, jumping on to the roof and he heard Naruto following after him and the rest of his friends after them. He heard Hinata’s giggle as she kept up with them and Shikamaru’s ‘troublesome’. Shino was as silent as ever as he kept pace with Kiba who was laughing with Choji over the fangirls groans of disappointment as they failed to keep up. As they reached the outskirts of the town and entered into the Uzumaki clan lands, they all dropped down.

“Finally!” Kiba exclaimed as he let Akamaru down. “I thought they would never let up.”

Shino pushed his shades up. “I fail to understand their rationale. Why bother with pursuing someone clearly so uninterested in them, especially someone who’s appeal I fail to see. Clearly they need either a check upon their mental status or their eyesight.”

“Did you just insult me?” Sasuke asked with a frown but no heat to his words because he failed to see the appeal that the fangirls saw in him.

“Oh, they definitely need both checked.” Shikamaru said. “Though they should go to someone other than Ino. She’s got the second-worst case of delusion among them.”

“Second-worst?” Choji asked as he finished his bag of chips.

Kiba gave a fanged smile as they drew in on the house. “Sakura has the worst.”

They all headed to the living room as they dropped their bags and scattered their schoolwork. Naruto went to the kitchen followed by Choji and Hinata and returned within a few minutes with small piles of snacks and beverages piled onto trays for them all to share. The coursework was basic and they were done within minutes and they soon turned to their different projects.

* * *

Hinata pulled out a small notebook from her bag and presented it to Naruto proudly. It was the culmination of years of information gathering among her clan as she embarked on her self-imposed goal of changing the clan from within. And now her hard work had paid off as Naruto reached over and began flipping through every single detail of the Caged Bird Seal.

“Is it okay if you keep it here?” Hinata asked as she gestured to the obscure looking blue notebook. “I don’t want anyone to find out what we’re working on.”

Naruto nodded. “That’s probably for the best. This is only just the beginning and we still have to find a way to remove the seal and design a new one otherwise we’d be leaving your clan open to dojutsu thefts.”

“Where should we start?” Hinata asked eagerly as she thought of the day when her clan would be united and oh, it felt like it was getting close.

“We’ll need to figure out the seal itself, how it works and what components don’t. These weren’t done by an Uzumaki, I can tell you that.”

“No, it was done by one of the Hyuuga ancestors about two hundred years ago. I just…”

“It’s either incomplete or he was incompetent.” Naruto shrugged. “Or it could have been something lost in translation. Looking at your notes, I can tell you that the foundations of the seal are shaky, it has good bones but it hasn’t been laid out and assembled well. I’ll probably need a live one to study.”

“I think… I think Neji nii-san would help if I told him about this.” Hinata said with a tremor in her voice. She had come a long way from the insecure and terrified little girl that she had been when she first befriended Naruto, but her guilt over her uncle’s death and Neji’s resentment still rattled her. A part of her longed to return to the close bond that they once had and the knowledge that the seal was keeping them from that had spurred her on and forced her to confront her own fears. At the age of nine, Hinata forced herself to watch as one of the children had been branded with the seal, and this one was a clearer memory than when Neji had been branded.

She forced herself to remain stoic and calm throughout the process and she sat with her head held high. Her father had been proud of her for that but she had been disgusted. Later that night she visited the branch house and delivered some goods to the family and a little toy was gifted to their little girl. She held the child in her arms and looked down upon her and swore that it wouldn’t happen to Hanabi and that she would find a way to end the division. That night, she delved into the lower floor of the library available only to those of the main house and she pulled every book and scroll that even slightly referenced the seal before taking a brief trip to study the stone tablet in the last room of the library that detailed their history. Parts were still indecipherable but Hinata began to take notes and copied everything from the books and scrolls into the notebooks she had purchased that day and then she worked on the tablet in her spare time. Knowledge was power in this game and she needed to win for the good of the clan.

Sasuke wandered towards them as they began discussing the components of a new seal. He appraised the list before suggesting some more but he displayed no interest in having one created for his clan. Though Hinata could see why. Sasuke was the last Uchiha… well, one of the last two Uchihas known to be alive.

“That’s not going to work with my clan even if they were still alive today.” Sasuke said, interrupting her thoughts.

“Why not?” Hinata asked with a frown.

Sasuke looked at her and ‘hmmed’ before sighing. “The Mangekyo Sharingan is the final natural evolution of the Sharingan, it’s powerful but it has its drawbacks. It causes you to go blind with overuse. That’s why when two Uchihas have the Mangekyo, and especially if they’re closely related, they exchange eyes. It stops the blindness and actually triggers another stage called the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan which is said to be the strongest one, Madara had it and it came from his little brother.” He explained.

Hinata sat there stunned. “How on earth does that work?”

Sasuke just shrugged. “Hn.”

Her eye twitched and she could suddenly understand why Naruto found it so annoying.

* * *

Shino sat quietly watching as Naruto discussed expanding elemental affinities into their training and taijutsu skills. He knew that Naruto and Sasuke were already ahead of them in terms of learning elemental jutsus but it seemed that they were just as determined that they learn to blend it into their fights. Hinata hmmed at that but said nothing otherwise. He knew, just as everyone in their group, that the Hyuugas rarely if ever practiced elemental types let alone incorporating it into their taijutsu. What Hinata had been doing to the Gentle Fist style was practically blasphemous in the changes that she had made and unfinished, it could get her into serious trouble with her clan elders.

“What do you have Shino?” Naru asked as she turned to him.

Shino nodded as Shikamaru yawned beside him. “I have a few elemental jutsus from my family’s library. It’s not a lot to begin with since we mostly use our allies but it would be good as a foundation though it is mainly earth style.”

“I have a few too, but most of it is earth style, too.” Kiba admitted.

Sasuke looked at them. “I suppose it would make sense for your families to gravitate towards the earth style jutsus after all, fire wouldn’t do any good for the Aburame clans’ allies or for the Inuzuka ninken since they may get caught up in it. Water style and wind style might injure them as well if not used carefully and since the ninken don’t disappear like summons.”

“So are we going to focus on earth style then?” Choji asked in between bites as he finally pushed away the last of his homework.

Naruto shook her head at them. “I have a lot of elemental jutsus that I found among my parents' stuff. I also found some chakra paper if you guys wanna test out your elemental affinities.”

There was silence before Hinata spoke up. “I… I think that we should learn where we gravitate towards first. We have two months till graduation. I want to take it on the day that we graduate, just as a way to confirm what we already know but I don’t be a one-trick horse.”

Naruto nodded and smiled. “Alright! Anyone have an objection to that?” She asked as she turned her head from side to side. “No one? Then let’s vote on it. Anyone who agrees say ‘Ramen’!”

Everyone rolled their eyes but said ‘Ramen’ anyway. “Then it’s settled. We’ll be having ramen for dinner!” She said as she slammed a fist into her palm.

Sasuke slapped the back of her head. “That’s not what we were talking about and you know it! Besides we’re already having ramen tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just wanted to make sure everyone was listening.”

“Sure you were.” Shikamaru said. “Really troublesome.”

* * *

_Naruto smiled at her parents as they greeted her with a kiss on the cheek. Her Mama was always overly enthusiastic with anything regarding Naruto but her Papa was the more emotional one when it came to the little things about her growing up and today was no different. When she had produced the hundreds of shadow clones in preparation for her final exam, she had been greeted with teary eyes and a blubbering father as soon as she had entered her mindscape._

_“Thanks for teaching me the Kage Bunshins, Papa!” She said as she threw her arms around the man. “Now I can be a real shinobi with my friends. I just have to make sure to limit everything.”_

_Her mother on the other hand only grinned as she turned to her daughter. “I like the pranks you played more!” She said with a cackle._

_And yeah… the prank had been pretty great. What with painting the Hokages’ faces, especially her papa’s face with the funniest kabuki inspired designs inspired by his registration photo which she had every intention of copying. And then of course, the chase. It was hilarious to think that she’d been able to lead everyone, chunin and jonin both, on a merry chase around the village and that it had been a chunin who’d spent the majority of his career as a teacher that had been able to catch her._

_Her father began sobbing loudly. “What’s wrong with Papa?”_

_Kushina laughed louder than she had before. “The princess over there is crying because of your ero-jutsu.”_

_At the mention of her oiroke no jutsu, Minato wails louder and throws his arms around her shoulder. “You’re too young! Too innocent! My little princess shouldn’t know about things like… like that! Damn you Sensei! I curse you to the lowest levels of hell for corrupting my innocent, precious, little flower.”_

_Naruto looks at her mother who is still roaring with laughter and even Kurama lets out a little chuckle. The years between her parents' awakening and today had done much to improve the relations between the three of them. Her mother finally pulls her father away and Naruto is quick to retreat close to Kura-chan’s cage._

_“Brat, we have to talk.” Kurama’s voice suddenly goes serious as she turns to him. There was something in his eyes that reminded her of how he would talk about his sister, Asura. Kyuubi had always told her that she reminded him greatly of his sister. Although given that she was a descendant of Asura, perhaps it wasn’t so surprising?_

_“What is it, Kura-chan?” She asks, with a grin though her tone is just as serious as his. She knows to treat the memory of Asura with all the reverence it deserved. Asura who had been so beloved by the Bijuu and who had wanted only to protect the happiness of those around her. In that, they both understood one another._

_Kyuubi cocked his head at her. “It seems you’re more like Asura then you know. You’ve inherited her abilities.”_

_“Her abilities…” What were Asura’s abilities? Healing, regenerative abilities which was probably where the Uzumaki vitality and healing factor was derived from… what else? Sage arts? No, that was something to learn. Staff fighting was a given. Sensor abilities, yeah. The Chakra chains that Naruto had yet to unlock were derived from her Mokuton…_

_Eyes snapping up to the fox. “Mokuton?” She asked breathlessly._

_“Yes.” And in that one word alone her whole world tilted on its axis. She had never been bothered by her inability to produce the Mokuton because it was something that only one in every few generations of Senju had been able to produce and given the fact that she was descended from Tobirama, she had focused on water and wind style release as her family had been primarily skilled in those affinities._

_But… but Mokuton was something that would give proof to her Senju claim and may just allow her recognition as one of its members (one of two). And it would also paint a giant target on her back. Her papa patted her head as he smiled down at her infinitely calmer than the hysterics he’d been in moments ago._

_“We’ll help you figure this out, Naru. You aren’t alone.” And yeah… she was never alone was she. In her sleep she had Kurama and her parents. In the real world her friends, Iruka sensei, the Ichirakus, the Sarutobi, Ero-sennin, Inu-aniki, and a whole host of other people were there for her._

_“Practice more earth style and it may be time to take the affinity test. You have a lot of nature chakra in you already because of me so I wouldn’t be surprised if you showed some level of affinity for all of the elements.” Kurama tells her._

* * *

Naruto wakes up practically vibrating out of excitement and nervousness. Sasuke had foregone sleeping at her house that night in favor of spending some time in his family’s home and tending to the shrine. She was going to visit them tomorrow, to pay her respects and to explore the tablet under the Naka shrine. Sasuke had told her about the discovery a few weeks back and after Hinata’s confession that there was one with the Hyuugas as well, she had confronted her mother and Kurama who had confessed to four tablets. One for each of the three descendant lines of the Great Sage and one for the descendants of the Sage’s twin brother.

Sasuke was hesitant to let the others read it for now and the Hyuuga tablet was out of reach for them. The Uzumaki tablet may or may not be in one of the scrolls that her grandfather had sent to her mother while the Senju tablet was in the clan’s sealed compounds. It was said to piece together the history of the Otsutsuki clan, the parts that even Kurama hadn’t known about. So they were determined to learn more about what was written on the tablets. She made a few clones and sent them to the shrine to begin the search before grabbing a piece of toast and heading out the door.

* * *

There was a bit of a pause when Naruto performed the kage bunshin rather than the academy style but given the fact that she was known to train with Mitarashi Anko ensures that no one commented on it, memories so traumatizing relating to the Kunoichi were better left unsaid. So Naruto walks out of the room with a smile and a forehead protector clutched in her hand not commenting on the dark well of resentment and anger coming from Mizuki as she was greeted with smiles from her friends.

There are parents waiting for them outside and ready to take them to a dinner party at the Akamichi’s Barbeque Restaurant. Ino is predictably there and they all laugh and leave Sasuke to suffer through the affections of his second most rabid fangirl for all of twenty minutes before they pull away from the various Jounins’ that have helped them train throughout the years. Sasuke was shooting them dark looks and silently pleading for help and so, the Komorebi decided to enact extraction plan 4: fangirl combatant in order to rescue their fellow Shirin-Yoku.

A little comment to distract Ino, coupled with a spill of juice courtesy of a yawning Shikamaru close to her new shoes had her shrieking as Sasuke slipped out of her grasp, feet tilted slightly as Hinata spoke to Kiba had Ino stumbling into Choji’s arms and getting her arms smeared in barbeque sauce. And Shino quickly pulled him into a conversation as he subtly walked Sasuke out to the door where Naruto was waiting with a kage bunshin henged into him and he was free and clear.

* * *

The party lasted until around 9 pm and Naruto was left to walk home alone. Sasuke had retreated to the solitude of the Uchiha compound desiring to be alone for the night, again. They were going to have a meeting tomorrow as a group to take their affinity test and she would relay what Kurama had told her.

There was a flare of chakra and disgust washed over her before Mizuki appeared in front of her, a smile on his face hiding the dark emotions he felt. “Naruto, have you heard of the chunin exam exemption?”

* * *

Naruto headed to the Hokage tower, sneaking in through the windows and into Jiji’s office. The old man met her there and she stood straight, forehead protector gleaming. She wasn’t there as a granddaughter, she was there as a proud and loyal Konoha leaf. Her parents' words of caution floated back to her mind as she thought of what they had told her in the moments after Mizuki had left and when she’d entered her mindscape to confirm what he’d said with her parents.

“Hokage-sama.” She said, as seriously as she could.

The Sandaime sat up straight. Sensing that this wasn’t just his little granddaughter coming to visit to proudly show off her new rank. That she wasn’t even rushing off to visit Konohamaru spoke a lot.

“Roughly half an hour ago, I was approached by Mizuki-sensei who had told me that there was a way to bypass the chunin exams by substituting it with a different test.” The Hokage raised a brow and motioned for her to continue. “He said that I would need to prove my ability by stealing the forbidden scroll.”

That had set the Hokage on high alert. “I see, you did the right thing reporting this to me. There are no such tests.”

“I know. The only was either through an in field promotion or through the exams.” Naruto recited as she recalled Iruka’s lecture.

“Now then…” The Hokage paused gazing at her in contemplation. “How would you like to help expose the traitor?”

* * *

An hour later, the ANBU and a handful of shinobi were alerted to the fact that Naruto had stolen the forbidden scroll. Mizuki smiled, unknowing that those sent out to pursue the girl were briefed on the operation. He knocked on Iruka’s door as frantically as he could and gave a rather dramatized rundown of their former student’s crime.

* * *

Naruto glanced at the forbidden scroll and applied a seal that copied everything on the scroll before she began to study the scroll in earnest. The feel of Iruka-sensei’s chakra had alarmed her because in none of these scenarios did she ever factor the man in. She listened to the man lecture her and very nearly gave up on the whole charade but she had her orders.

“But Mizuki-sensei said that if I did this then I would go straight to chunin.”

“What are you talking about?” He asked before he suddenly turned and grabbed her before jumping away. Naruto had already been preparing to jump away at that point but Iruka’s protective instincts were quite nice too. Nevertheless, Naruto smelled the blood from the multiple grazes and gashes from the shuriken.

“I see you’ve found our little hideaway.” Mizuki said taunting.

Iruka grunted as he glared at his friend. “I should have realized this before.”

“Naruto, give me the scroll.” Mizuki demanded while Iruka told him otherwise. Naruto stared at the two of them, even though she knew what she had to do, she wanted to see how this played out. Hands already reaching for a sealing scroll.

Mizuki then launched into a spiel about the Kyuubi attack and her role as its jailer, she had been faking her reactions until… “The Kyuubi killed Iruka’s parents and all this time he’s hated you, the fox.”

She felt it hard to breathe but… but then. “Don’t listen to him, Naruto. I know who you are. You aren’t the demon, you’re you. You’re Naruto Uzumaki, my former student and Konoha’s future Hokage.” Iruka declared passionately as he readied himself for an attack. Naruto was blown away by the sincerity she felt in his words and she remembered those first few days… even then, Iruka had never looked at her with disgust or hatred. No, he had been conflicted and wary, a bit scared perhaps but it had been pushed away in the face of a lonely little girl.

Naruto turned and ran away silently praying that Iruka would be alright as she made kage bunshins to lead Mizuki away from her. Having bought herself some time, she put the forbidden scroll into her storage scroll and pocketed it away for the Hokage before returning to where she sensed her two teachers. She watched with a twisted sense of fascination as Iruka-sensei had henged into her while Mizuki had henged, ironically enough, into Iruka-sensei.

When the henges dropped and Mizuki went in for the kill, Naruto panicked and surrounded by the forest created by the Shodaime to protect the village, she felt the pull and called the trees to defend her sensei. The trees answered as a thin wall of wood sprouted between the two and Naruto jumped out and in front of the stunned teachers. Confidence gained she grinned at the traitor.

“So, that’s what the Mokuton feels like.” She said before she willed the trees to trap him.

“Naruto… but… what?” Iruka asked, spluttering just as Asuma-oji and Anko-sensei dropped down.

“Great work, Naruto. Though the Mokuton was a bit of a surprise.” Asuma said before patting her on the back.

Anko smirked as she turned to Mizuki. “Is it okay to move him like this? It won’t break, will it? I mean… it might be fun to see how many ways I can maim him for running away. Although that might take away the thrill of breaking him later. Ahh well, I can’t have all the fun, Ibiki might complain.”

Iruka glanced around the three of them and then to Mizuki bound, gagged, and imprisoned by wood. “What’s going on?” He demanded.

“Ahh… we weren’t counting on you getting caught up in the Hokage and Naruto’s plans to flush out the traitor. I’ll let the Hokage explain everything.” Asuma said sheepishly.

* * *

One explanation later and Iruka was staring at the Hokage in open-mouthed awe but Naruto could feel the irritation building up in the man. “If there isn’t anything else, then you may leave. Have your report submitted in two days.” He said as he dismissed Naruto. The storage scroll was so small on his desk as she walked away. Jiji hadn’t mentioned the Mokuton and she had no doubts that she would be summoned sometime tomorrow to discuss it.

* * *

“Permission to speak freely, sir.” Iruka said tersely.

The Hokage nodded.

“It isn’t my place to question your decisions, sir. But what the hell were you thinking letting a girl just hours removed from the academy fight a chunin far older than she was? She’s just a child, she’s…” Iruka began his tirade but was cut off.

“She’s a shinobi under my command and one more capable than you think. You underestimate her and Asuma was never too far away, neither was Gai or Anko.” He said. “Like it or not, she was legally considered an adult the moment you gave her that forehead protector.”

Iruka sighed. “I know. Logically, I know that. And it was necessary but I still don’t like it.”

“You’re a good man and a good teacher.” The Hokage said.

* * *

“I trust that none of you would breathe a word about Naruto’s Mokuton use to anyone unless she expressly permits it.” Hiruzen said as he stared at Anko, Asuma, and Gai. Iruka had been warned of it already, not that the man would have said anything anyway but still, Shinobi were the worst gossip because their main currency was secrets.

The three of them stared at him with uncharacteristic stoicism as they nodded before being dismissed. The three of them disappeared as soon as he had lowered the privacy barrier and just in time too as a knock sounded and his secretary walked in and dropped the new genin profiles onto his desk. At the very top was Naruto’s ninja registration form and he twitched at her picture.

Calling his secretary back, he sighed. “Call Naruto.” He said simply and began to sift through the recent graduates as he began to create a tentative list of team formations. There were some that were a bit more obvious. Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akamichi were placed into a group following the usual team formation. Naru and Sasuke would be together for a multitude of reasons, class ranking notwithstanding, Naru needed to be with a sharingan user of which there were only two left, she needed to be with someone proficient enough in seals and again that was where the sharingan wielding sensei came in, and of course, the mental and emotional wellbeing of all three depended upon their proximity to one another.

That left two possible candidates. For the first time in the Academy’s history, there was a tie for the spot of the Top Kunoichi. In front of him were the profiles of Hinata Hyuuga and Sakura Haruno. One excelled in the martial arts while doing quite well with her academic scores and the other had flourished in the controlled setting and book learning done within the academy but fell quite flat with the more physical aspects of shinobi life.

It all came down to a balance it seemed. Sakura was outgoing and confident but she was also a fangirl and quite sheltered when it came to the realities of the shinobi life. On the other end of the spectrum was Hinata who knew the realities of life from a young age, and had known the consequences of each action she took because of her position as the clan heiress but she was also painfully shy. Both of them would greatly benefit from having someone like Kurenai as a sensei however…

Shino Aburame, though it wasn’t listed here, was not quite as strong as Kiba Inuzuka when it came down to taijutsu and that had been the deciding factor. He couldn’t in good conscience send Kurenai with two students who weren’t strong fighters and it made sense logically that they would form a tracking team. So Hinata Hyuuga went to Team Kurenai and Sakura Haruno was sent to Team Kakashi.

He winced and mentally begged for forgiveness at the thought of another team seven sent into the same dysfunctional pattern that its previous iterations had fallen into. Now, what to do with the others? The rest weren’t as cut and dry as the first three teams given that he hadn’t paid particular attention to their progress. With Naruto’s friends, at least he had some idea into their skills given their clan names and ranking as well as the little things he’d been able to glimpse from his crystal ball though that was limited given that all of it happened within the Uzumaki Clan training grounds deep within the forest and under the countless protective privacy seals that were scattered there.

He was rather hands off when it came to the training of those children and what little he knew weren’t even recorded within the genin registration sheet. Naruto’s page was woefully short and was quite deceptive:

**Uzumaki Naruto**

_Taijutsu: High_

_Ninjutsu: Adequate_

_Strength: High_

_Speed: High_

_Genjutsu: Mediocre_

_Intelligence: Low_

He snorted at the last bit. Naruto was quite smart and there was no mention of her fuinjutsu or iryo ninjutsu studies. There was no mention of her staff training or her skills in the various weapons that the others had drilled into her. Nothing was said about her Mokuton (recently presented as it was) nor her knowledge in elemental jutsus. He idly wondered what her main affinity was.

And then the spike of chakra alerted him and he put away his notes for the team rankings as his surrogate granddaughter rushed into the room, a bright smile on her face. “What’s up, Jiji? I have to go meet up with my friends later. We’re doing day two of our graduation celebration, ‘ttebayo!” She said happily.

“Naruto.” He said, a smile on his face. “I need you to retake your registration photo.”

“No.”

“It isn’t negotiable, young lady. This… this is quite unacceptable!” He said as he showed her the kabuki-esque photo and by the Sage did that bring back memories. From Jiraiya to Minato, and now Minato’s daughter has done much the same.

“I don’t wanna! I did that in honour of Ero-sennin. It’s to portray him, dattebayo! His red marks were the inspiration and I think it looks cool!” She declared.

Hiruzen sighed. “Regardless, you will retake this photo because this…” He said as he pointed to the picture again. “Is against the regulations.”

Naruto pouted. “Fine.”

He smiled as he put the photo away and of course that was when Konohamaru would show up. His two grandchildren greeted each other happily and walked out of the room together leaving a flustered and completely clueless Ebisu behind as the man continued to drone on about his teaching methods. And of course, not two hours later, Hiruzen was wiping away the nose bleed as he turned away from his crystal ball after witnessing his granddaughter’s latest ero-jutsu. “Sage damn you, Jiraiya. I can’t believe you corrupted the girl so thoroughly.” He whispered and hundreds of miles away Jiraiya sneezed.

* * *

“WHAT?” Kiba screeched as he digested the news that Naruto had just told him.

The girl in question glared at him and motioned him to keep quiet. “Konohamaru-chan is sleeping upstairs.” She hissed as she dug into the bowl of chocolate.

“But…but… you have the…” He spluttered.

Shikamaru grabbed a donut from the plate on the table before he spoke. “You have to admit, it seems kind of a stretch. The Mokuton is one of, if not, the rarest kekkai genkai. And for you to suddenly have it is…”

“Yeah, but Kyuubi did say that I would be able to wield it soon. I guess being in the heart of a forest grown with the same power made it easier to use it? I don’t know. Maybe the trees already knew what it was like to be called and commanded.”

“Have you asked your parents?” Sasuke asked as he looked at her. Naruto couldn’t tell them under what circumstances she had wielded the Mokuton but that didn’t mean that they didn’t know something had happened the night before. Being a shinobi meant keeping the details of their missions a secret and with Naruto being unable to talk about it, it meant that it had to be on the orders of the Hokage.

“Yeah. They said that it might make it easier for me to eventually awaken the chains.”

“Okay, so Naruto is obviously going to be overpowered. And how exactly is that fair? That’s got to be cheating!” Kiba declared.

Shino shrugged as he looked at the other boy. “What gifts genetics bless her is not her fault. It was obviously something calculated by her ancestors in order to ensure the continuation and propagation of her chakra chains given the continuous intermarraige between the Uzumaki and the Senju clans, that she has the same gifts as the Shodaime while highly improbable was not out of the realm of possibility and certainly not something she had gained through nefarious methods. I fail to see how she had cheated. We each have traits and gifts passed down through our ancestors.”

“Still.” Choji said as he stared at Naruto in contemplation. “That does mean that it would make your status as the Senju heiress more believable and make it easier for you to get that recognition without having to wait for your sixteenth birthday or a chunin status since your clan head is…”

“Since my clan head is busy kicking ass and healing people outside of Konoha.” Naruto offered as she chose to look on the more optimistic side of things when it came to Tsunade Senju’s continued and quite prolonged absence from the village. It did make her wonder whether the woman was aware of her existence but chose not to dwell on it. “I’d rather not have people knowing.” She told them quietly.

Hinata looked at her with understanding. “Yes, a gift so rare would have people after you.” She said softly as she patted Naruto’s arm. The others went quiet as they began to understand the implications of what was just said.

“Let’s stop talking about this and move on to something happier!” Naruto said loudly. “Who do you think we’ll have for our teams?”

“I don’t know. I hope I have at least one of you guys.” Hinata said as she smiled at them, Shino nodded back at her.

“I already know that Choji and I will be on the same team.” Shikamaru said.

Choji looked at his best friend with a frown. “And we’ll have Ino, too.”

“Urghh.” Shikamaru said with a grimace. “Troublesome blonde.”

“Hey!” Naruto said as everyone laughed.

“Man, I just know I’m gonna rock it!” Kiba declared as Akamaru yipped beside him.

“I just hope I have Naru. I’m also praying that there wouldn’t be any fangirls on my team.” Sasuke said as he stretched his arm over the back of the sofa, very close to Naruto’s shoulders.

* * *

“Team Seven.” Iruka called out. “Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke…” At this the two best friends smiled. “And Haruno Sakura.” The pinkette shrieked in happiness.

“Damn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, the Komorebi know about the chakra impressions but it doesn't go beyond that. They made a pact that they wouldn't keep secrets from one another unless it was absolutely necessary and this didn't seem to fall into one that category. Next up! Team formations and team bonding! Hinata has grown a lot and that's something absolutely necessary for her because she doesn't want her sister to suffer and she sees it as her duty to protect Hanabi and the rest of the clan from internal destruction. The gap between the main house and the branch house has gotten a lot bigger and the tensions are rising. Let me know what you guys think and please stay safe!


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